The Magnificent Goldberg

I found this with them and STILL laughed

Looking through our photos for one of our dog, I found three I took in Namibia in 2002. MG

I'm really sorry to hear about your, Larry, and others' losses. We've had two cats and three dogs. Henry, the present one, is coming up to eleven. I've been lucky about all our animals' deaths so far. Muff, our second cat, died soon after her kittens were born. She was a stray who just arrived and stayed, got on well with our first, Golly, a super-intelligent and occasionally sarcastic black cat. But Muff was thick as two short planks and got run over crossing the road outside, when I was at work. Golly lived until she was nineteen! That was in 1991 and again, I was at work, so Sarah buried her in the grounds by the flats. We had our first, and second dogs by then. The first was Toby, a fawn pug. The second was Blossom, a Peke, whose aged owner had died. Toby, being a pug, would pugarun like crazy around the flat, often provoked by Golly, who'd jump on the phone table in the hall and bop him every time he passed. Toby was thirteen when he died, in January 1993. I was in the Gambia at the time. Blossom died on 31 Aug 1997, and we don't know how old she was. But I was at home for that. Here's a pic of Henry a few years ago. MG

I thought they'd never dry! MG

: MG

The Lionel Hampton Quintet - Clef (vols 1 & 2) 1954/5 next Syl Johnson - Ms Fine Brown Frame - Shama 1982 Manu Dibango - Manu '76 - Fiesta 1976 MG

I got the four volumes of Charlie Parker's ten inch Savoy albums of a blog yesterday, so I was looking forward to listening to them today. Well, I'm glad that never, in sixty-odd years of buying jazz records, I've never once thought of spending any money on these recordings. Compared to the Dial material, which I like a lot, they're very, very cool and unexciting - even 'Now's the time' and his only hit single, 'Barbados'. I may have another go at them sometime, but not too soon. I also got a bunch of other stuff, all of which I like a lot. Orquesta Ritmo Oriental - Areito 1975 Orquesta Ritmo Oriental - El ritmo de la Ritmo - Areito 1995 Nemours Jean-Baptiste - A musical tour of Haiti - Ansonia 1960 Celina Gonzalez - Al Guateque con Celina - Egrem Lord Nelson - This is Lord Nelson - Camille 1973 And this morning, my man for African albums sent me Babani Kone - Barika - Mali K7 1998 and Pathe Moloko - Bhadomo bhadomo - Gris Gris 1998 (Already had this on a K7, so the scan of it is below) MG

Breakfast with Orquesta Aragon - Baila con Aragon - Areito 1987 Bumba Massa - Dovi - Syllart 1984 now Shimita & Soukous Stars - Maclo - Syllart 1991 Next Orquesta Aragon - Mambo inspiration (Primeras grabaciones 1953-55) - RCA Victor (Tumbao comp) MG

Just listening to this and realised it fits in here. MG

Got the full version of this last week from Amazon. Having a first listen to the whole gig. Eddie Higgins, of whom I've taken little notice so far, is on FIRE on the Chef! MG

This afternoon/evening George Freeman/Charles Earland - Introducing George Freeman with Charles Earland - Giant Step 1971 Kenny Burrell/Jimmy Smith - Blue bash - Verve 1963 Florida Mass Choir - Come let's reason together - Savoy 1979 One of my favourite choirs, their first album and probably their best MG

This afternoon Florida Mass Choir - Let the holy ghost lead you - Malaco 1988 Kenny Burrell - Freedom - Blue Note 1963 Yaya Bangoura (El Bangou) - Wo koberato - AMC 2000 MG

Yeah, I got it in '66, flogged it in '68 and bought another in Mole Jazz in '86, which I've still got. But I haven't played it since 2012. Saw it on a blog yesterday and got it again and moved the LP into the ripped LP section. I probably would have ripped it myself in due course but probably not for several years. Nice stuff. MG This morning Ousmane Hamady Diop - Alamari - Origines 1998 (NOT the one you can get from Amazon, which was done for KSF in 1997 and isn't as good). No sleeve for this one on the web, see below Duke Pearson - Merry ole soul - Blue Note 1969 Got this in '69, but flogged it soon after. Got it again last Christmas and have kept on playing it, 'cos it's so nice. Another I got for the second time, the other day Manian Damba - Djanto Chinina - AMC 1995 MG

Found on a Nepalese forum Some more funny ones MG

Breakfast with S E Rogie - Palm wine guitar music: the sound of the sixties - Rogiphone Charlie Parker - Bird symbols - Dial (Parker) Koko Taylor - Checker now Nanou Coul - Allez Les Aigles [Mali's national football team] - Maikano 1998 Only crappy versions of the sleeve on web - see below next Les McCann sings - Pacific Jazz 1961 MG The football whistles are annoying the dog MG

Booful!!!! MG

Prevert was a poet and screenwriter, but also a songwriter. Because he's French, his work is little known elsewhere. But, actually, it's not hard for a popular poet to have written the words to a good many songs. Brecht wrote The Threepenny Opera, with Kurt Weil. He also wrote two versions of Mahagonny with songs included with Weil. Later he collaborated with Hans Eisler on a number of plays with songs. He was no one shot wonder as a songwriter. MG

Undoubtedly the best of his post-Blue Note albums and NOT just because of Ronnie Cuber, though I AM a fan of his. It seems to me to be part of the same batch as his sixties recordings, though it's not, of course. But the feel is the same and the approach to the compositions is. MG

Manian Damba - Djanto Chinina - AMC 1995 I got this as a K7 when it came out. Now I've bought it as a download Got a batch on the way, but they're being sent one by one. MG

Live at the Living Room was another without an overlay of slush. I haven't got the London House album. MG

No. I'd have noticed the name Don Ralke because he arranged 'Jennie Lee' by Jan & Arnie, which was THE anarchic Mr Bass Man recording. And if I'd seen it, I'd have snapped it up to see if this was wildly anarchic. Bet it isn't MG

After my Ray Charles bash yesterday, I carried on with Ray - yes, a real overdose Ray Charles In Person - Atlantic 1959 Ray Charles at Newport - Atlantic 1958 At Newport 1960 - Wax Time Berlin 1962 - Pablo Live in Concert 1964 Coo! But I don't think of that as an overdose. MG Breakfast this morning, with Dr Nico & Les Redoutables - Dr Nico aux USA - Africa New Sound 1985 Bumba Massa & Les Redoutables - Bumba Massa & Les Redoutables - Africa New Sound 1985 Same band, same guy doing the cover art. Label & studio in Lome, Togo. Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey - Austerity - Decca West Africa 1982 Now Horace Sliver - The hard bop grandpop - Impulse 1996 MG

Go back to my original response. I edited it and answered your question. MG

US Decca was started as a partnership between Sir Edward Lewis (owner of Decca records in the UK which started in 1929) and Jack Kapp (a producer for US Brunswick) - though someone called Milt Rackmill was in there, too. They were, in effect, different branches of Decca. Two reasons have been given for Lewis selling his part of US Decca: the New Deal, forbidding foreign ownership of US companies; and (according to Wiki) in anticipation of German aggression leading to WWII. Both are plausible; Lewis put a hell of a lot of money into developing Decca Radar and the sale could have funded that. The New Deal is a known fact. US Decca was also a pioneer of original cast albums, too. UK Decca was also a general pop label whose successful releases by top artists such as Ambrose were released in the US AND UK on Decca. Later, after the sale, records by Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, Edmundo Ros, Mantovani and Ted Heath, were very successful in America. After the split, US Decca records were issued in the UK on the Brunswick label. US Brunswick (part of ARC) sold UK Decca its bankrupt UK subsidiary, which is how UK Decca were able to use the trademark. Decca UK was a worldwide company (second only to HMV) before WWII with branches in (at least) France, India, South Africa, Australia and probably New Zealand. After the war it opened a branch in West Africa - covering the British Commonwealth countries in the region (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria & Cameroun). It's the most important Highlife label. When the UK company was acquired by Universal, the West African subsidiary was sold to Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, who'd already bought his own masters a decade or so beforehand. (You'll realise that THIS is the bit of Decca that means a lot to me.) Decca released several hundred records in West Africa. It was a VERY big player. I don't think anyone knows how big it was. There's a site that tried to put a discography together but only covers a few hundred with loads and loads of empty gaps. MG

Lester Bowie (I assume not David) also recorded with Fela Kuti. That's not R&B but not entirely unlike it as Fela got lots of stuff from Jimmy Brown the Newsboy. MG Yes, and Adams played with the Fatback Band. And Pullen played on Charles Williams splendid Mainstream albums, which are VERY solid soul jazz. MG